Made 830,000 pounds from Sydney Test, says nabbed bookie

London, Aug 30 (IANS) Cricket bookie Mazhar Majeed, who was arrested by Metropolitan Police, has revealed that the betting syndicate made 830,000 pounds from the controversial Test early this year between Pakistan and Australia. “Let me tell you the last Test we did. It was the Second Test against Australia in Sydney. Australia had two more wickets left. They had a lead of ten runs, yeah. And Pakistan had all their wickets remaining.”

“The odds for Pakistan to lose that match, for Australia to win that match, were I think 40-1. We let them get up to 150 then everyone lost their wickets. That one we made 1.3. But that’s what I mean, you can get up to a million. Tests is where the biggest money is because those situations arise,” said Majeed.

The bookie was arrested based on the sting operation conducted by The News of the World.

Video evidence proved that Mazhar received some 150,000 pounds from the tabloid and it prompted the Metropolitan Police of London to quiz three Pakistan cricketers over claims they were involved in a betting scam.

Majeed allegedly lured Pakistani fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif to deliver three blatant no-balls at the agreed moment of the the final Test against England. Reports also suggested that Pakistan captain Salman Butt and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal too were involved.

The second Test between Australia and Pakistan in Sydney last January is also under suspicion. At the start of the fifth and final day, Pakistan were in a supremely dominant position but managed to lose dramatically.

Australia led by a mere 49 runs with just two wickets of their second innings remaining and with only one recognised batsman left.

In extraordinary scenes, Australia’s last two batting partnerships managed 124 runs. That set Pakistan the relatively easy target of 176 runs to win. But they were bowled out for just 139 and lost.

There were widespread accusations of cheating at the time and Pakistani coaches raised doubts about wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, who dropped four catches and missed an easy run-out.

Three of the dropped catches were off the bat of Michael Hussey, who went on to score 134 not out.

Majeed revealed that fixes go on in all forms of the game - Tests, One-Dayers and Twenty20.

“Of course, everything. And you get the indication to show if it’s on or not. They’ll change gloves at a certain point. Yeah, it all comes through me. We don’t do results that often. The last one we did was against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup, which was about two months ago. And you get a script as well,” said Majeed.